WILHELMSEN BACK IN BIGS, BUT LOOK THE OTHER WAY

Thomas McFeeley, Staff WriterSeptember 3, 2013

Late summer is marked by the sound
of crickets, not only in your backyard, but in Major League
bullpens. Teams are on auto-pilot and the only changes to expect
from here on out will be possible isolated tryouts for 2014. One
notable change, though it won’t have any effect on Fantasy league
saves:

John Axford was traded from the Brewers to the Cardinals late
last week. For Axford, the change of scenery will be good, as
Brewer fans were about done with him. I stand by my April and May
statements that Axford deserves a closer role somewhere. He’s not
the best closer in the game, but his gopheritis was not the result
of his peripheral stats, just misfortune. With Edward Mujica firmly
in control as the closer, Axford will not see any save situations,
and as Jason Motte returns in 2014, the bullpen will be crowded. It
will be interesting to see if St. Louis management shops Axford to
teams with weak pens.

The Mariners recalled Tom Wilhelmsen among their batch of
September call-ups, but don’t expect him to pitch in any save
situations. If saves is a crucial category in your league and every
save could mean a place in the standings, you may want to pick him
up in case he gets re-installed, otherwise, you should pass.

Just because Tommy W is back in the bigs
does not mean he will help your Fantasy team down the stretch.
Photo credit: BTats

Ernesto Frieri seems to have regained a solid hold on the
closer duties for the Angels with Dane de la Rosa falling back to a
set-up role. The pair could easily swap spots if Frieri struggles,
so monitor this situation.

Bruce Rondon picked up his first career save for the Tigers,
but relax, it was in a rain-shortened game on Friday, and so there
is no change at the back of the ‘pen. But you should watch
his appearances (or the box scores) closely to see if he can be
effective and possibly the 2014 closer.

Not much has changed since last week, but here is our weekly
Closer Confidence Chart. Enjoy the stretch run and may each
of your saves be important:

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Thomas J. McFeeley is the 2013 Fantasy Sports Writers Association winner for Best Humor Column and is a frequent contributor to RotoExperts. You can reach him at tom (at) tommcfeeley (dot) com or on Twitter: @TomMcFeeley